


Cindy is Cindy

by kayecho



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Trans Female Character, chapter 13 spoilers, implied abusive past, not quite romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 09:50:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9229385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayecho/pseuds/kayecho
Summary: Cindy is uncomfortable dating or going out with anyone because she's had such a difficult past, but Prompto keeps wearing her down until she gives in,  letting him have one date.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as a way to explaining why Cindy's breasts look so fake, that despite the fact there is so much beautiful animation in hair and clothes but for some distracting reason Cindy's breasts have no motion. This resulted in Trans!Cindy, and this is the short that followed. Oh, and thanks to shiny_glor_chan for reminding me that this is technically slightly AU because I've gone ahead and changed how poor Cindy's parents died and how she ended up with Cid.

Cindy was 6 years old the very first time she put on a dress. Her mother had passed away several weeks earlier, after suffering for years from a disease that no one could cure. Cindy had loved her mother, clung to her, had been attached from the very beginning. Her mother's passing was like tearing off a limb, because those never grow back.

She never had the opportunity to mourn. Almost immediately after, Cindy's father put her to work, forcing her to get rid of anything and everything that belonged to her mother. Ever scrap, every piece. Her hands worked through her mother's wardrobe, fingering swimming in the fabric. She had always loved what her mother had worn, always wanted to put them on herself. She did, one day, slipping into a soft yellow dress, that still smelled of her mother, so many sizes too big for her diminutive frame. The neckline hung over one shoulder; the skirt was a long train behind her. Cindy looked and felt beautiful.

That is, until her father caught her. He stormed in like a hurricane, furious with her. He grabbed at her wrist, tore the clothes from her body. She remembers the words, "No son of mine is gonna parade around like some kind of freak!"

From that day, her father overcompensated. She was forced into every masculine hobby he could think of. He forced her into sports, into martial arts, into trucks and cars. He tried to beat every feminine thought out of her head. Cindy spent many late nights alone in her her room, tending quietly to her bruises. No one ever asked. She had enough extracurriculars that there was always something she could blame her black eye on, her broken nose, her twisted foot. 

She left home at fourteen. She ran to the one place she felt safe.

Cid was the greatest grandfather anyone could ever ask for. He worked hard on automobiles and weapons. He told stories about his time with the king of Lucis, about his adventures around the world leading to his coronation. He told stories about her mother, recalling them with such fondness. And most importantly, he hated her father and swore to keep her safe. Of course, Cid could only protect her from the things Cindy let him know about. She never talked about the boys she would try to date. the same boys that would beat her up when she tried to tell them who she was, or what she was. The boys that would take advantage of her need for affection.

It would take another three years before she would come out to her grandfather.

She approached, hesitantly, twisting a greasy rag in her hand. Cid was tucked underneath a car, working as hard as he always did. She waited a long beat before finally clearing her throat. "Uhm, paw-paw?" She heard her voice crack as she spoke.

"What's up, kid?"

Cindy always liked that, the way her grandfather always called her kid, but in the moment it was the opposite of reassuring. "Can we- uh- talk?" She nudged him with the toe of her dusty boot.

Cid groaned and emerged from beneath the car, sitting up slowly. "Sure, fire away."

"N-no. It--" Cindy hesitated before making a sound not unlike the one her grandfather made just moments earlier. "Can we go somewhere private? It's kind of... personal."

"This is girl stuff, isn't it?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

It took a little while longer, with Cindy sitting Cid down at the table, pouring him a cup of coffee, fiddling uncomfortably in a seat before she finally opened her mouth to speak. She told him everything, the words spilling from her lips quickly and without pause, almost out of fear that if she let up at any point, Cid would interrupt and throw her out. She explained that she never felt right in her body, that she had felt that way her entire life, that the intranet helped her figure out what she was; that she had been using it for the things she needed for the change. She stopped to take a breath, taking that time to really look at her grandfather for his reaction. He sat, relaxed and stoic all at once the way he always did, but there was no sign of the anger her father had shown her years ago. 

"Geez, took you long enough to say something," were the first words from Cid's mouth when he finally spoke."You ain't very subtle about it, impossible not to notice it, you think I've been letting those injections into my compound without vetting them first?"

"You-- what?" Cindy balked.

"Nothing gets past me." Cid shifted, in his seat and he fixed Cindy with a hard stare. "Least of all something that has the potential to harm my grandbaby."

"Paw-paw...." 

"I ain't gonna pretend like I know what you're going through, or what the hell it all means, but I'll support you every step of the way." Cid moved to his feet and placed a heavy hand on Cindy's shoulder. "Do you have a name, or am I still going to have to call you Junior?"

"No. No. It's... Cindy."

True to his word, Cid supported her journey from Cid the Second to Cindy the First. She worked hard at the garage to pay off his assistance, the money for the hormones, the therapy, and most importantly the money for the surgery. She hadn't even wanted to ask at first, she was happy enough with the road she had chosen up until now. She didn't need the surgery, not when it would cost as much as it should, but her grandfather insisted. He said, "What would it take for you to feel comfortable and happy?" He went out of his way for her.

Cindy flaunted her body because she could, because she was proud of it. She oozed pride and confidence. She worked hard to look that good and she wanted people to know it. The way she dressed was her way of reclaiming her body: this was hers and she didn't care what anyone thought of it, and the more she cared about herself, the more she didn't care about being alone. She had closed off that part of her life. Boys were, as far as she was concerned, unnecessary. They would only hurt her, be angry with her or be disappointed. Of course, ignoring them mostly had the same consequences too.

That's what made ignoring Prompto so difficult. He was not like the other boys. He pursued in an awkward kind of way, subtly suggesting they grab a bite to eat together at Takka's, or maybe they could take a walk together outside of Hammerhead (he'd protect her, he swore), or maybe she could visit the caravan and hang out with the gang after dark. He expressed something that looked and felt like genuine interest, and it was sweet. He was kind and adorable in a young sort of way. Cindy hated to admit that she liked him, but she had experienced this at least once before. They pretended to care, but as soon as they learned what was really between her legs, they would run for the hills or worse.

So she brushed him off. If she accepted an invitation, she made sure the other boys would be there too. If it was going to be just the two of them, she was somehow inexplicably busy or distracted or would conveniently forget. She made certain that Prompto would never cross that line. She didn't like the idea of him suddenly hating her for lying, for tricking. Keeping her distance was much easier than any of that.

Prompto kept trying, though. He seemed determined to wear her down in his way.

"Hey, great work as always." Prompto hooked his thumbs on his belt, exaggerating his casual stance. It failed, miserably. Cindy could see how uncomfortable he was in his own skin. He was always uncomfortable, now that she thought about it, even when his gaze was not-at-all subtly sliding down to her chest.

"It helps that the Regalia is a gorgeous car. 'Course, anyone else may not make it look quite so good." Cindy nudged at the brim of her hat, as if trying to draw his attention back up to her grease smeared face. She gave up and cleared her throat.

Prompto snapped his gaze back up, face red. "Hey, yeah. Great. I mean it. It looks good. The car, the car looks good. I mean, you look good too, but-- I'm gonna go." He gestured with his thumb, jabbing back in the direction of his friends before turning on his heel in an attempt to escape as quickly as he could.

"Wait." For once, Cindy took pity on him, especially as Prompto ground to a stop and looked hesitantly over his shoulder back at her. "Before ya'll take off again, how about you and I grab a bite to eat?"

"Really?" Prompto turned on his heel a second time, facing her with an alarmed look on his face. "Just you and me? Just us two? Alone?"

"Unless you don't want to." Cindy perched her hands on her hips, regarding him with an expression of amusement. 

"No, I want to! I definitely want to!"

"Alright, then. Find me when ya'll are done running errands for Takka." Cindy flashed Prompto a playful little smile and watched him take off like an excited bundle of nerves towards his friends. The more she thought about it, the more she thought about him, the more charmed she was. It would be wrong to say that she liked him with the same intensity that he seemed to like her, but she was reluctantly attracted to him. He didn't have any of the features she found typically attractive. He was short and thin. He had pale freckled skin and blonde hair. His eyes were huge and blue and expressive. Of the four, Gladiolus was much more her type. She preferred, under most circumstances, to feel dwarfed by her male partners. They made her feel more feminine, more delicate. That was obviously not the case with Prompto at all, but there was just something about him.

It wasn't until the next morning did Prompto finally approach, looking nervous and awkward, though refreshingly less dusty than he had looked the day before. She had prepared ahead of time, asking Takka to fix them up a picnic lunch of sandwiches. "Something easy," she said with a smile, "So we can go somewhere private. There's a nice little spot not too far from here, heard ya'll use it as a campsite sometimes."

Prompto was buzzing with energy and nerves. He chatted on about nonsense for the entire walk. There was only one brief hiccup, that required him to summon one of his weapons and take down a sabertusk on their way, and it was the first time Cindy ever had the opportunity to see him in action. As awkward and as nervous as he was about everything else, he had a completely different competency in battle. It reminded her of the comfort she felt working on cars. The rest of the world was a challenge but cars? Cars she knew. The same could be said about Prompto. 

"Can I take a picture?" He asked, holding up his camera. "The lightning is really great here."

Guns and cameras.

Cindy tried to distract, pulling out the food that Takka had packed for them, spreading it out on the rocks. It seemed to do the job, with Prompto plunking himself down on the rock, helping himself to a sandwich that he ate between taking pictures of their surrounding. He continued to see happy enough to prattle continuously about nothing, talking excitedly, filling in the silence with his constant chatter. He talked mostly about nothing, about the weather, about the day, about the long trip they'd taken from Lestallum and then all the way back here to Hammerhead. He talked about his friends, about the prince and the other Crownsguards. Cindy nodded, listening as she took small bites out of her sandwich.

"I want to just say, thanks so much for finally having lunch with me," Prompto finally blurted out. The words came from his mouth as though he had been holding onto them for days and had been looking for the perfect opportunity to say them. He was twisting his hands together nervously. "I mean, the guys kept saying that you weren't interested, that you wanted nothing to do with me, but I was really hoping. I mean, it has nothing to do with wanting to prove them wrong or anything, but--"

Cindy had closed the distance between them, just enough so she could grab Prompto's hands, giving them a squeeze. "They ain't wrong, those friends of yours."

"Oh." It was like sticking a pin a balloon. Prompto almost immediately deflated.

"That's not what I mean. It's not you. I'm just noit interested at all. I've had nothing but rotten, rotten experiences with men, and I'd gotten tired of it."

Prompto almost immediately switched the grip on their hands, so that Cindy's hands were th ones being held this time. "Who would ever be rotten to you?" He wore his heart on his sleeve. There was a sad sincerity in the look in his eyes. "They're dummies if they're rotten to you!"

Cindy was startled into laughing, much as she didn't want to admit it. "They had pretty good reasons for it if you ask me." Her lips curled into a darkly humored smile. "Heck, you might do the same thing once I tell you."

"What!? Try me! What could you possibly tell me that would give me a reason to be rotten to you!?"

Cindy took a deep breath and after a moment's hemming and hawing, she opened up. She summarized it as quickly as she could, talking about the men in her life that have been nothing but awful to her, the men that affected her outllook on relationships but most importantly she told Prompto the truth. "I was born male. I do hormones and I've had some surgery, but I'm still not... all girl." She paused, waiting for the other's response. Prompto was quiet long enough to make her nervous.

Finally he spoke. "You're definitely all girl. If you tihnk you're a girl, you're a girl. So what if you were born one way, or you still have some parts and pieces, big deal, that doesn't change who you are, right? Cindy is Cindy and that's what matters.

The last person that had reacted to her like that had been her grandfather, and she was caught so off guard by Prompto's earnest response that she didn't know what to say. Priompto squeezed her hands, and put himself in a place where he could look her eyes. "I think you're perfect the way you are, and now i like you even more knowing that you're honest with yourself." He paused. "Makes me wish I could be a little more honest with myself."

"Wait, are you...?"

Prompto laughed and shook his head. "I'm not like you, but I'm also like you at the same time." He hesitated and leaned in a little closer. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone? Even Noct doesn't know."

Cindy nodded. She had to. After Prompto's response to her truths, there was no way she wouldn't do the same for him.

"I'm Niff. I was born there. I still have all the coding and everything. I'm no better than those magitek soldiers, really." Prompto was speaking slower than he ever did, as if admitting the words aloud were hurting him. "I'm afraid if I tell them, they'll hate me." And his lips quirked into a small smile. "Hell, I'm afraid you'll hate me."

Cindy offered him a warm smile in return. She knew there was something about Prompto, something almost akin to kindred spirits underneath it all, and even though she couldn't say that she like-liked him, she could definitely say that she liked him. "Prompto is Prompto, and that's what matters. I couldn't hate you. Who could hate you? You're way too sweet."

"So, do you like me!?" Prompto was grinning, and laughed when Cindy swiped at him with one of her hands. 

"Don't put words in my mouth." But Cindy was smiling, soft and affectionate. "I don't like you, not like that, no offense. I'm just no in a place mentally or emotionally, but I still like you. You're the nicest guy to come into my life in a long time. Give me time. Let's see where I'm at in another 5, 10 years?"

"Okay, it's a deal. I'll ask you again in 10 years."


End file.
